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Cisco Unveils System for Enterprises to Distribute Video Widely
As online video consumption soars, enterprises have begun realizing that video is a key part of the way they communicate internally. But because video is a bandwidth-heavy application that can quickly drive up network costs while degrading quality, video is a whole new challenge for IT managers. That's the context for a set of products Cisco is announcing this morning called Enterprise Content Delivery System (ECDS).
ECDS is a set of hardware appliances, software and management services that optimize both on-demand and live video to any device. Use cases for enterprises are varied, and include training, executive-level communications, meetings, events and customer interactions among others. Each one of these situations create different challenges such as which office video originates from, how many users will be involved, which other assets are part of the video package, etc.
Categories: Technology
Topics: Cisco
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Irdeto Bolsters Blu-ray Security With BD+ Acquisition from Rovi
Irdeto, which provides software security services for digital media, is expanding its focus to Blu-ray discs, announcing it has acquired BD+
technology from Rovi. Irdeto's SVP of Product Martin Sendyk and VP of Technology Greg McKesey explained to me that the plan is to integrate BD+ with Irdeto's ActiveCloak for Media, in order to combat Blu-ray piracy in the initial period following a disc's release when the vast majority of its potential revenue is realized.
Categories: Deals & Financings, Technology
Topics: BD+, Blu-ray, Irdeto, Rovi
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Facebook-Skype Integration Could Be Next Big Inflection Point for Video Use
Facebook and Skype introduced an elegant integration earlier today which allows Facebook members to easily video chat with each other. The demo looks slick; you simply go to a friend's profile page or find them in the chat window, click on the video camera icon and are connected. One big benefit of the integration vs. the way Skype ordinarily works is that you can instantly communicate with your friend on Facebook that you want to have a video call and if the friend doesn't have the Skype plug-in they can download it in 20-30 seconds and get started.
By taking a lot of the friction out of video chatting, and by exposing this feature to Facebook's 750 million users, this new feature could become the next big inflection point for online and mobile video usage. Over the last 5 years online and mobile video usage has exploded, and arguably YouTube, Hulu, Netflix and Apple have been the main drivers. YouTube's user-generated and sharing roots exposed tens of millions of people to watching video online in the first place. Then Hulu and Netflix capitalized on this awareness by making household-name premium quality video available. Apple has played its part introducing mobile devices (iPhone, iPod, iPad) that enable more convenient, flexible viewing.
Categories: Communications, Social Media
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$84 Million Raised in Q2 '11 By Private Online/Mobile Video Companies, A 2-Year Low
Despite the frenzy of digital media and technology IPOs occurring these days, private online and mobile video oriented companies raised a relatively modest $84 million in Q2 '11, the lowest level in the past 2 years. The total is derived from numerous public sources I track and the companies themselves; as always, it is possible that I missed some news during the quarter, if so, please let me know and I'll update the list.
The $84 million was raised by 13 companies (also a 2-year low), and of the amount, almost two-thirds came from just 3 companies, Digitalsmiths ($12.5M), VideoSurf ($16M) and Animoto ($25M). The Q2 total was suppressed versus prior quarters not only because of lower volume, but also because there were no big video ad network, online video platform or device financings announced, which have tended to be larger is size. As I'm always quick to add, too much shouldn't be read into one quarter's data as financings close when they do - a few days one way or the other and quarters can look very different.
In addition to the financings, there were a range of acquisitions both in and adjacent to the online/mobile video area, along with other notable financings. Overall there was a lot of market activity in Q2 and there's plenty of reason it will continue in Q3 (the potential Hulu acquisition is just one example). Continue reading for Q2's financings and deals. Lead investors are noted.
Categories: Deals & Financings
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Cable Flexes Its Muscles (Again) With ESPN's Wimbledon Win
Score another sports programming victory for cable, as ESPN announced today that it has acquired all of the U.S. TV rights to Wimbledon tennis in a
12-year deal beginning in 2012. ESPN's win was NBC's loss, as the broadcast network's 43-year association with the tournament comes to an end.
For ESPN, and for cable TV networks in general, it is another step in a steady progression of using their economic supremacy over broadcasters to obtain television rights to marquee sporting events. While ESPN is the undisputed leader, numerous other cable networks like TNT, USA, Versus, Golf and of course the regional sports networks (RSNs) such as Comcast SportsNet and Fox Sports Net have staked their claim to early round or full coverage of high-profile sports events.
Categories: Broadcasters, Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators
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Netflix Expands to 43 Latin American Countries But Faces New Broadband Challenges
A major piece of news from Netflix during this typically slow July 4th holiday week: the company posted on its blog this morning that it intends to expand its service to 43 countries in Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean later this year.
The 43 countries weren't specified nor was an exact timetable for rollout. And no mention was made of DVDs, so it appears that this will be a
streaming-only offering. In another first, the service will be available in Spanish, Portuguese and English, the first time to my knowledge that Netflix will offer additional language options.
Netflix observers have been eagerly awaiting news from the company on international expansion plans beyond Canada, which launched last September. By the end of Q1, Netflix said it had approximately 800K subscribers in Canada, but the service has been hindered a bit by extremely low data caps by broadband ISPs. The Canadian experience, along with other broadband-related factors, makes the choice of Latin America a bit surprising as Netflix's next move and introduces new challenges.
Categories: Aggregators, International
Topics: Netflix
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No Surprise, Google is Kicking Hulu's Tires
The LA Times is reporting that Google has met with Hulu and its representatives about possibly acquiring the site. Others reported to have met include Microsoft and Yahoo. The news isn't surprising given Google's well-known appetite for adding premium Hollywood to its offering and its general acquisitiveness. Despite my skepticism about whether a Hulu deal can get done with anyone given the complexity around long-term distribution rights from its network owners, I suggested that Google, along with Apple and Netflix, would be the most likely prospective acquirers. Still, it's very early in the process, so lots will still happen.
Meanwhile, Hulu acquisition activity doesn't seem to have slowed down product innovation. Today Hulu announced a clever new integration with Facebook that allows Hulu viewers to share comments on a specific scene in Hulu programs with their Facebook friends along with a link to that scene. Hulu is also enabling login using Facebook credentials, something that has become popular at many sites (update: it looks like there was an implementation issue, so Hulu has pulled back this feature for now). The push to socialize Hulu is part of a broader trend to bring social media behavior to TV viewing.
Categories: Aggregators, Deals & Financings
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New Data Indicates Almost Half of Online Viewers Watch Pre-Roll Ads Even When They Can Choose Not To
Two recent data points share a common, though somewhat surprising, conclusion: almost half of online viewers watch pre-roll ads to the end even when presented with the choice to opt out and skip the ad entirely. Clearly two data points aren't enough to form a real trend, but they do provide insight into how online video advertising may ultimately differ from traditional TV advertising.
The first data point came from YouTube and Scripps, via this article in Online Media Daily. Scripps ran ads for 3 different programs on YouTube using its "True View" format that allows users to easily skip past the ad. It turned out that 44% of viewers actually watched the ad through to the end (a key benefit of the TrueView model is that advertisers only pay for ad views, not for skips).
Then separately this week, video ad manager AdoTube released its Q1 2011 In-Stream Ad Format Index, which provides data on the 4.25 billion ad impressions generated across AdoTube's network (slides here). Among the key findings: 45% of viewers of its "Polite Pre-Roll" which allows skipping, watched through to the end. That was a 7% increase from the prior quarter and on par with conventional pre-roll ads. Another interesting finding was that when the Polite Pre-Roll is used, the abandonment rate for the content itself is 18% lower than when conventional pre-rolls are used, suggesting that ad choice enhances the content experience.
Categories: Advertising
Topics: AdoTube, Scripps, YouTube
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